power to the people

December 4, 2014

I started walking home from the Holiday Ale Fest and ran straight into a march protesting the decision not to indict the officer involved in the murder of Eric Garner, as well as the decision not to indict the officer involved in the Ferguson shooting of Michael Brown. All those involved were rallying against the recent decisions and the societal issues underlying them.

I don’t know where they originated from, but I found myself in the front as the group marched from Pioneer Square to the Moda Center, chanting along the way various slogans such as, “No justice, no peace,” “Who’s streets? Our streets,” “Who’s lives matter? Black lives matter,” etc.

It just felt good, right; and being near the front, I started screaming at the top of my lungs, raising my fist and raging against the system with all my being. All that was going through my mind was, “This shit has to stop, and I have to be on the front line against racism, sexism, and every other kind of discriminatory ‘ism’ there is. Enough is enough!”

I don’t know if anything I do, or ever have done, will actually make a difference; but I know I’m at least willing to try. I’m not afraid to add my voice to the millions crying out for the same thing: Equality. Justice. Peace. An end to discrimination and oppression in all of its forms. If at some point we’re not a part of the solution, we by default become part of the problem.